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Actress Says Bachmann Reminds Her of Intolerant Character on Glee Television Show

Jane Lynch arrives at the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday, where she served as the host for the show.(Matt Sayles/AP Photo)

In a recent televised exchange with MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell, comedian and recent Emmy host Jane Lynch said her bigoted Glee character reminded her of Republican presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann.

During his Tuesday evening show, O’Donnell played a Web video clip of Lynch’s character, cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester, an intolerant bully who picks on gay and minority students at a fictional high school with a diverse glee club. Sylvester complains about “sneaky gays” and her increasing difficulty in identifying them.

“You know what I’ve had it up to here with? Sneaky gays,” the character says. “Gone are the days of Oscar Wilde, Liberace, homosexuals so flaming they could be seen from space. Why, nowadays, sneaky gays are everywhere—at the church, at the mall, picking up their meticulously dressed, fastidious children from day care. Why, you could be sitting next to a sneaky gay right now and you’d never even know it.”

O’Donnell suggested to Lynch that such remarks might be something Bachmann would say.

“What you are doing there is, it’s what Michele Bachmann wants to say,” O’Donnell tells Lynch. She replies, “Would say, yes.” Lynch continues, “It actually makes it less funny because it’s actually very, very real. There are people who think that. And I guess (Glee’s creators) want to kind of put it out there in the light of day and say this is what people think.”

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The Minnesota congresswoman's campaign did not respond to requests for comment from National Journal and CBS News.

Bachmann, a social conservative and self-described born-again Christian, opposes the gay community on most issues, including the movement to allow homosexuals to marry and to receive spousal health benefits. Lynch is openly gay.

Glee, a show on the Fox network, has previously been accused of having a “gay agenda.” Among the critics is former Saturday Night Live comedian Victoria Jackson, who has spoken out against the show on her WorldNetDaily blog. “Besides shoving the gay thing down our throats, they made a mockery of Christians—again!” Jackson wrote. “I wonder what their agenda is? Hey, producers of Glee, what’s your agenda? One-way tolerance?”